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corbel

[kawr-buh l]Architecture
noun
  1. any bracket, especially one of brick or stone, usually of slight extent.
  2. a short horizontal timber supporting a girder.
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verb (used with object), cor·beled, cor·bel·ing or (especially British) cor·belled, cor·bel·ling.
  1. to set (bricks, stones, etc.) so as to form a corbel or corbels (usually followed by out).
  2. to support by means of a corbel or corbels.
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Origin of corbel

1375–1425; late Middle English < Middle French < Medieval Latin corvellus, equivalent to Latin corv(us) raven1 + -ellus diminutive suffix
Dictionary.com Unabridged Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2018

Examples from the Web for corbel

Historical Examples

  • There is a corbel table like it but more elaborate at Vezelay in Burgundy.

    Portuguese Architecture

    Walter Crum Watson

  • I'll be back at the office as soon as I get this corbel laid.

    Calumet 'K'

    Samuel Merwin

  • We cross rivulets formerly spanned by bridges, of which bricks and a corbel vault are still visible.

  • Here we again find the boveda, the corbel roof, the pointed arch observed in previous buildings.

  • The reader will notice that in this monument the corbel vault is more convex, and recalls that of a ruinous palace at Palenque.

British Dictionary definitions for corbel

corbel

noun
  1. Also called: truss a bracket, usually of stone or brick
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verb -bels, -belling or -belled or US -bels, -beling or -beled
  1. (tr) to lay (a stone or brick) so that it forms a corbel
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Word Origin

C15: from Old French, literally: a little raven, from Medieval Latin corvellus, from Latin corvus raven
Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition © William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 © HarperCollins Publishers 1998, 2000, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2009, 2012

Word Origin and History for corbel

n.

mid-14c., from Old French corbel, diminutive of corb "raven," from Latin corvus (see raven); so called from its beaked shape.

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Online Etymology Dictionary, © 2010 Douglas Harper